The Iowa contest tends not to select the Republican nominee. In 2016 Texas Senator Ted Cruz denied Donald Trump his first win by taking home the caucus prize with 28 per cent of the vote. In 2012, Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum just edged out eventual nominee Mitt Romney. In 2008, presidential nominee John McCain didn’t even place in the top three, only securing 13 per cent of the vote compared to Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee’s 34 per cent.
Iowans have just delivered Trump the biggest caucus win in history
In recent years, the caucus has been a better gauge for what the grassroots of the party want to see in a candidate, rather than who exactly they want to run against the Democratic nominee. But this won’t provide any comfort to the latest round of losing candidates. Iowans have just delivered Trump the biggest caucus win in history, as it became obvious within minutes that he was set to secure more than 50 per cent of the vote.
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Rod Liddle The angels in Jim Crace’s Eden are tetchy and petty authoritarians, apart from one who can’t fly properly. This dissertation on freedom and mortality is rather wonderful – published two years ago but I caught up with it only this year. The best non-fiction book of the year is David Goodhart’s The Care
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